Tag: empire

This far-future science fiction trilogy (so far) holds enticements for a range of tastes. Within the covers of each volume you will find imperial palace intrigue featuring some truly nasty villains, action-packed fights and wide-screen space battles, and complex characters negotiating interwoven relationships and learning more about themselves than they might want to know. Whew!

Interstellar gunrunner Hail Bristol is dragged unwillingly and unceremoniously back to the home from which she fled many years earlier. Her family wants her—needs her—back, and Hail has little or no choice in the matter. Turns out she is no ordinary gunrunner. Her family is the ruling dynasty of the Indranan Empire. Hail wants nothing to do with them, for complicated reasons that become clear only later in the story. But Indrana is in crisis, and Hail is their last, best hope for survival. She’ll need all the toughness and cleverness that she has honed in her years of surviving and thriving plying her trade in the most violent corners of the galaxy. She will also need friends—but who can she trust? (Submitted by Jim W).

TheGolden Mean by Annabel Lyon is a great historical novel based on true events. It’s about Alexander III of Macedon (also known as Alexander the Great) who was a young and a powerful Greek emperor who ruled the largest Western empire of the ancient world. He was only in his early 20’s when he became a king, and died at the age of 32. In his teen years he was tutored by the legendary Greek philosopher Aristotle. This novel is re-imagination of what it was like for Aristotle to tutor this clever young man whose limitless ambition was also alarming. Consequently, Aristotle aimed to give Alexander the “Golden Mean” to become a prominent leader without losing control over his desire for power. (Submitted by Jamila)